Norman Thomas Welker, age 82 of Macomb, IL, passed away Friday, March 12, 2021 at St. Johns Hospital in Springfield, IL. He was born on October 15, 1938 in Canton, IL, the son of Don and Jeanette (Angelo) Welker. On July 18, 1959, Norman married Virginia Kingery at the First Christian Church in Ipava, IL. She survives.
Also surviving are his two sons, Brian (and Sue) Welker of Naperville, IL and Bradley (and Dora) Welker of Sherman, IL, four grandchildren; Kyle (and Rachel Trent) Welker, Kailey (and Mike) Boland, Ashley Welker and Clayton Welker, his sister-in-law Sandra Welker of Lewistown, IL, his brother-in-law Jim Nappin of Lewistown, IL and several cousins, nieces and nephews.
Norman was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Don “Gene” Welker and his sister Emma Jane Nappin.
Norman was a graduate of VIT High School in 1956. Following graduation, he joined the US Army where he learned the telephone trade. During his service, he spent two years in Japan where he was responsible for maintaining dial offices. During this time in Japan, he received three letters of Accommodation.
Following separation from the Army, he placed applications with several phone companies and a cooperative. He received a call from McDonough Telephone Cooperative’s (MTC) general manager requesting he come in for an interview. Norman was there on June 15th and at the conclusion of the interview the manager asked how soon he could start. He had to wait until the following day, June 16th, 1959 before he could start. He went on to spend his entire telephone career of 47 years working for MTC, the last 21 years as general manager and president.
Over the years, Norman was sought out by other regional small companies to help in restoring service or correcting problems with switching equipment. After becoming general manager, Norman was soon sought out to serve on various committees and board of director positions. One of the first boards that he served on was the Illinois Hearing Impaired program, which today is known as the ITAC program. He was a member of the Illinois Telephone Cooperative Advisory Council, Illinois Independent Telephone Company, Illinois Telephone Association, Service Management Corporation Board and National Telephone Cooperative Association (NTCA) Board. The crown jewel for Norman was to serve as President of the NTCA Board of Directors and receive the NTCA Life Achievement Award.
He was instrumental, along with other Telco leaders, with the creation of Western Illinois Network Service (WINS), providing Internet technology and later digital TV to homes throughout west central Illinois. MTC first introduced digital switching technology in the late 1990’s. Norman had a major responsibility in coordinating the project as MTC had to work with a number of companies that the Cooperative connected with, the largest being GTE Telephone. By the time he became general manager in 1984 many changes had occurred within the telephone industry. Federal and state agencies were demanding more services than the older digital switches could provide. This resulted in a complete replacement of the Cooperative’s digital switching equipment.
Just like the old equipment being retired, it was time for Norman to retire. His last day in the office was September 30, 2005. Upon retirement, Norman and Virginia loved to travel. Several of the trips were very memorable. For their 50th Wedding anniversary they did an Alaskan cruise, taking their children and grandchildren along. Later, they did a European tour including Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France. On the way home they made a stop in the United Kingdom. They traveled to Barcelona, Spain, spending a few days there before joining a Mediterranean cruise that covered a number of ports of call.
Norman and Virginia did several theater tours with WIU seeing many stage shows. There were several trips to NYC Broadway for shows and even one to London, England. Norman looked forward to the long weekends spent at the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort which included a couple of nice dinners as well as theater. His “bucket list” was not complete-there was a train trip across Canada that he and Virginia had to take. They boarded the Rocky Mountaineer in Vancouver and ended the trip in Calgary and then home.
Norman was a member of the Macomb Elk’s Lodge 1009, serving as Exalted Ruler in 1983 and District Deputy GER in 1988, a member of the Macomb Masonic Lodge #17, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Springfield, ANSAR Shrine in Springfield, the Macomb American Legion Post #6, Macomb Area Chamber of Commerce where he was President in 2002, and was President of the National Telephone Cooperative Association from 2004-2005.
Services for Norman will be held on Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 11:00 am at the First Christian Church in Macomb, IL. Pastor Kelly Ingersoll will officiate. Visitation will be held from 9:30-11:00 am the day of the service at the church. Interment will be in the Summum Cemetery in Summum, Illinois with Masonic services provided by the Macomb Masonic Lodge #17 and military rites provided by the Macomb American Legion Post #6. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the WIU Foundation for the Arts, c/o WIU Foundation, 1 University Circle, Macomb, IL 61455, or to Hematology Research at Mayo Clinic, c/o Mayo Clinic Dept. of Development, 200 1st Street SW, Rochester, MN, or to the Shriners Hospital for Children, Chicago Unit, 2211 North Oak Park Avenue, Chicago, IL 60707-3392.
